The 20th century is filled with technological advances, but none more significant than the advent of computers, electronic and digital communications, and the Internet. These technologies have offered the world access to oceans of information on every topic imaginable and have enabled people all over the world to communicate electronically, such as, for example, by sending electronic messages over a network such as the Internet. Cellular and digital technologies have revolutionized the way people communicate via telephone and, in addition, have spawned the development of new devices such as personal digital assistants, pocket personal computers and email pagers that are able to receive and transmit information that can be stored on these devices, forwarded to another device, uploaded onto a computer system, or printed.
A known problem with current technologies is that the author of an electronic message is unable to retain control over what happens to the message after it is transmitted across the network. For example, the recipient may forward the message to another user, print the message, store the message for later viewing, or copy the message to the clipboard. An author may not want a sensitive email or message transmitted to a third party, or a copy of the message stored or printed for future reference. However, current technologies do not completely address this need.
Some mail programs allow an author to designate a message as “private.” This setting limits a recipients ability to modify an original message and forward it to a third party with the appearance that the message, as modified, was transmitted by the author. However, this setting does not limit a recipient's ability to forward, copy to the clipboard, store or print the message in its original form.
There exists a need in the field of electronic and digital communications to have a method and apparatus that allows an author to set permissions on a communication which restrict the recipient's ability to use the transmitted information. Furthermore, there is also a need for method and apparatus that allows the author to insure that only the intended recipient receives the message. The current invention addresses this need by providing a method and apparatus for generating an encrypted package of data comprising a file of data, a unique identifier, and one or more permissions governing use of the file. The package may also contain the recipient's unique identifier and a client software package to be installed on the recipient's computer system upon receipt of the package.